.::. Autumn .::.

It's really autumn. Leaves are turning yellow and I'm lovin' it!



It caught my eye and took my breath away. Pretty!

This is outside my faculty.

And this is the day I lost 500kr, the walk to the beach which cost me 500kr. I don't know how it manages to still look calm, but the sea was so choppy and wind was so strong!

The waves were rather strong and the wind was howling.

I feel like I've spent the whole week, since last weekend, researching for my projects. It's been such a tiring week, practically wake up in the morning to work all the way till the wee hours. Thank god we have finished almost all of them. One more left, shall finish it tomorrow and relax abit while preparing for exams.

.::. Still Kicking .::.

I'm still alive and kicking.



Specially dedicated to Ju, I'm using the scarf you gave me!



Some days it's not that cold, can still attempt to be fashionable after wearing 2 layers. But well, still have to button up and wear scarf and gloves when it's getting late. It's windy!

There was Rodeo right in the middle of our faculty that day. I think there was a job fair, but everything is in Swedish though, and I've no desire to work here anyway.

This is a normal day after class. We'll bring our lunch boxes to have lunch, open our laptops and stay there for the evening. I'm thankful to have met very nice people here, though I've spoken to many blah from all over the world too.

7 weeks of classes, 5 reports, 2 exams in a span of 8 weeks.

So yea...we're still working on our last 2 reports due on Saturday and Monday. Will get everything done this weekend before having to prepare for exams. 2 of our reports are alright, the other lecturers are alot nicer and helpful. We should do fine. =)

I'm so happy that I can go home in December, for one whole month!

Back with more updates soon.

.::. Shit Happens .::.

Things don't seem to be going my way since I've been here. I'm not sure if it feels like things are harder to cope because I'm all alone in this really cold foreign land with very different culture. Settling down took some time and tears, homesickness took some time to go away and getting into the swing of things took me way too much time too. Everything seem so foreign, so new, so much getting used to and fighting my way through.

We had to rewrite one of our reports. I guess we didn't get the style here, especially how they reference practically every single thing you write, even if it's your opinions based on what you have read or simply facts. It's humiliating and demoralizing that when we went to the lecturer to ask for directions humbly, the only advice she gave us was to ask us to go back to our countries to brush up on our English first before coming back here. Then she went on to tell us that she had one student who took her exam and she didn't understand what she was writing at all, so she suggested that it might be better for us to back out now. All this when she didn't even read our report since we didn't reference correctly and didn't pass the test for plagiarism. I felt like screaming at her, that I've been educated in English and have been taking exams in English all my freaking life! All we needed was some direction and comments instead of such 'advices'. I reckon that we should be grateful that she gave us another chance to submit the report instead of getting us suspended or something, but still...it kicked me off balance. I thought that it was rude and discriminating, I don't think that teachers should be this untactful. I lost all my respect for her that day.

Sadly, racial discrimination is still evident in Sweden despite the fact that it's supposedly such a developed country. Fai told us about how there are travel agencies for Swedish men to book holidays together with prostitutes in Thailand. I hate it when there are group of young men walking past me, saying things like 'Welcome to Thailand" or bow to me in the thai way in a very discriminating manner. What's the point of being developed and educated when you can't even respect another human who happen to walk past you? I'm also rather surprised that there's really hostilty between Taiwanese and Chinese here. Indeed, there are political conflicts between the two countries, but I don't see why it matters where you are from when you meet people here. To me, it's another form of discrimination, just like thinking that someone from middle-east are associated with terrorist and be hostile to them?

Maybe the tolerant attitutes being taught in Singapore is deeply embedded in me. We are taught to be tolerant, of other races, of other religions, of immigrants that understanding any hostility to another individual that stems from history and politics eludes me. Getting out of my small little corner in the world has really opened my eyes and made me realize that Singaporeans are a protected lot. Our views tend to be narrow and our focus tend to be on practical things which affects us directly. Things are too rosy back home, we are too self-centered and our focus is all on striving for efficiency and working our ass off. We don't really care about many issues, such as environment nor politics. Most of us don't have a cause which we would like to fight for or believe in, nor a passion which we are willing to make sacrifices for.

It has been difficult to get the morale back and the reports done again. We are working on four reports due within a week. It has been tiring fighting for survival the whole weekend. But I think we managed to survive. Finally, we got the hang of it. =) 2 down, 2 to go.

I was feeling so stressed that I felt that I had the need to get out, take a walk to the beach. I went though it was so windy and I felt like I was fighting the wind every single step. It's probably good exercise, walking against strong wind. The winds are howling outside my windows these days. But the main point is, I lost 500kr at the beach! I zipped it in my jacket pocket because I wanted to get something from the supermarket on the way back. But I put it with my phone. And when my roomate called me, I unzipped my pocket to get the phone. I think I unknowingly dropped my 500kr then. I only realized it when I was at the supermarket. And I realize that it's pointless to try to go back for it since it's so windy and have most probably flew away the minute it slipped out of my pocket. It's upsetting! 500kr can get me a nice trench coat from H&M! *sigh. I shall not ponder about it since it's just money afterall, and I can't do anything about it. I hope lossing some money has averted some disasters.

It's okay, I'll learn from these and grow, develop more as a person. Afterall, it's me who wanted to experience something different and get out of my comfort zone. Just that I didn't expect it to be this difficult.

So yea. Monday blues. It's so freaking wet and windy these days. Hello, hell week...

.::. Horrid Weather .::.

It has been wet and windy and cold these days. It's crazy. I can hear the howling wind outside. The wind is 6 times stronger than Singapore. I'm not sure how strong is 48km/hr, but it's just damn strong. And it's already 11 degrees in the day-time now. And I heard that it was only 2 degres in the mornings last week, there were even hail.

A Swedish woman told us that the cold here is 'wet', that kind which goes into your bones. Unlike the kind of cold up north, which is 'dry' and you don't feel it. No wonder I didn't feel that cold in Tokyo though it was about 10 degrees at night, but I'm freezing here at the same temperature.

Not to mention that the wind is damn strong.

It has been a horrid week and another horrid week to come too. Tell me I'll survive this.

.::. Hello Gloomy Days .::.



All these, after a cold and stressful-blah day. I was cold and stressed enough to go get a bottle of red wine. My roomate didn't have lessons today and prepared dinner.

Sweden seems to have very strict restrictions on alcohol which is rather ironic to me. They only sell alcohol (with more than 3.5% alcohol content) in special liquor shops which only open till 7pm on weekdays and probably very limited hours on Saturdays. You've to show your ID to prove your age every time you buy any alcohol and there are always huge queues in the store, especially on Friday evenings. And it's illegal to be caught drinking in public (except in al fresco bars and restaurants), except in Lund and another town if I'm not wrong.

Alcohol is expensive here, relative to Europe I guess. I heard that many people would take a train to Coppenhagen (40 minutes away) to stock up alcohol. I've been hearing that French wine is expensive here, but they are about $10 for the cheapest range and $2o for the expensive ones. It seems rather cheap to me, maybe because alcohol is expensive in Singapore and I'm so used to expensive alcohol that this appears cheap.

I'm not too good with alcohol, wine especially! I always get all red (even the whites of my eyes) that people think I'm drunk when all I feel is a really hot face. But I reckon some red wine would do me good when it's getting cold.

By the way, it's about 10 degrees now. When I left house for school at 7am this morning, I was breathing out 'smoke'. I feel assaulted by the wind everytime I walk from the indoors to the outdoors!

Yesterday was a rare sunny day and I had no classes. I managed to take a walk to the beach. I pass by this supermarket everytime I walk to the beach. ICA is the biggest supermarket chain in Sweden and it's everywhere. We do our grocery shopping here most of the time. Check out the bicycle with the kids 'trolley' behind.

It was cold and windy even when it was sunny.

Sunny days are numbered. More cold and gloomy days ahead.

I heard that Singapore experienced tremors due to the earthquake in Indonesia. It appears to be more widespread and this is getting rather frequent. It's scary though I've never experienced an earthquake. I remembered that during Geography lessons in Secondary School, the teacher mentioned that if the plates move enough after many earthquakes, there might be a chance that Singapore would not be shielded from earthquakes anymore. This means that we might have earthquakes in future? This isn't a good thing considering that we have so many high-rise buildings which are almost definitely not earthquake-proof!

And...'The Wedding of the year'! My Chinese coursemate knew about it too...I want a Vera Wang gown! As much as I love weddings and they make me so touched all the time, I still think that marriage is such a big responsibility.

.::. The Wedding .::.

Ju told me that Fann Wong was getting married! I feel so sua ku, not knowing any of these big news back home...

Perhaps some people think that he's 'not good enough' for her, but I think they're really sweet and right for each other. *so sweet. I just finished watching "The Wedding" series on youtube.

I want to watch the wedding!

.::. Student Life .::.

Lectures are rather different here. I'm not sure if this is the norm for masters programs, but lecturers don't teach that much during lecturers. Lectures are about 1.5 hour long, and the lecturers here talk alot slower than I'm used to and they don't seem to be in a hurry to cover more things. We only have lectures about 6 hours a week, but apparently we do spend alot of time on research and doing our reports.

There's a guest lecture by Robert Scappens today. He's some leading professor in Management Accounting and having him spices things up somewhat. He used to teach in Manchester University and he speaks alot faster than the lecturers here. I guess I prefer the British's english. I've one lecturer who talks really slow and sounds really bored, it makes it difficult for me to concentrate!

As much as I complain about projects and stuff, I very much cherish this chance to be a student again. Afterall, student life is so much better than boring working life. So yea, I almost enjoy staying back in school, doing our project while munching on food till late. Almost.

We handed up our second report today. 2 down, 3 more to go. Going to be busy the next 2 weeks with these 3 reports due. Some of the classmates got their grades for our first assignment, but we haven't got ours!

No lesson tomorrow. But there's lots to prepare for a full day of school with project meeting on Wednesday. Full-days like today makes me really tired by the time I'm home. It's getting cold, it was 13 degrees when I came home this evening. *yawns...

.::. Warmth .::.

Ju sent me a postcard from Singapore!!!!!



And it's this big ass picture of my favourite breakfast which I miss so much!

I miss my Ya Kun Kaya Toast and fluffy half-boiled eggs!

But then, it's really sweet of her to send me a post card. Thank you for remembering me! =) And I'm totally excited about Ju coming to visit Europe too...

My roomate cooked 'Braised meat' (lue rou). It's yummy but apparently not very healthy beacuse it's oily and salty. Hahs. My mum is going to nag about it.

.::. Äpplemarknaden i kivik .::.

Went to Kivik for the annual apple festival in Kivik on Saturday. I didn't know that there were that many kinds of apples.



There's a big picture made of apples every year. This year, it's horses. The picture is made up of 30,000 apples and 70,000 nails. I felt abit cheated because I thought there were many pictures like that every year. Who knows, it's one picture a year. But still, it was impressive.

Inside a tent, with one of the nicer structure made of apples the previous years.

=)

While people speak English here, I wouldn't say that Sweden is a language-friendly country. Everything and every sign is in Swedish and only Swedish, which makes it difficult for people like us who do not know Swedish. Apart from the not-knowing-what-the-hell-you-are-buying in the supermarkets, there are the many signs and notices which we always miss. It doesn't help that streets are always desserted and you can't approach people for help when there's no people around.

We waited for an hour for the bus which comes every 2 hours, then realized that it is not stopping at the bus-stop during the apple festival and we had to go to the other bus-stop (someone helped us translate the sign). By the time we realized that, we've already missed the bus and the next bus is in 2 hours, which means we will miss the last connecting bus back to Lund. It's really not a good thing to be stranded when it's cold and getting dark.

While we were at the gas station, asking for the number to call for a cab, we happened to meet a very nice lady who was on her way to the bus station to pick his son up too. She gave us a lift and all I can say is that we were really lucky.

There are some things which I still can't get used to, or might never get used to here.

But it's not a bad thing, experiencing and realizing that there are people out there who lives differently and actually prefers their way-of-life.

.::. F1 .::.

Last year, it was the first time we went to catch F1 in action. But this year, I'm too far away for that.

His team managed to visit F1 pit the day before the race to look at tyres or something.



NUS FSAE team.

The boyfriend has skinny hands. He seem to have got skinnier...

I think the F1 teams brought many, many thousands of tyres for the race.

I miss the boy.

.::. Out & About .::.

I don't have lessons today, though I've tonnes to read and prepare for tomorrow's project meeting. I went to the 'city' nearby to get some curtains. I'm used to sleeping in the dark and I can't sleep well once it's bright.



I like Malmo alot more than Lund. Maybe I'm used to the city and I totally can't get used to how the streets empty out by evening in Lund. It's weird when you always see empty streets. Malmo don't have that much people either, nothing like what I'm used to, but it's quite relaxing people here and there.

There was some sort of carnival or fair going on and there were many stalls. The food stalls were exactly the same as the Malmo Festivalen. I suspect that every carnival has more or less the same stalls. But this is new, they sell french soaps from Provence!

And there were lots of beautiful plates and tea sets!

And...they were selling tulips which you can plant yourself! And all sort of different flowers. I even saw some potted lillies which were beginning to bloom that day. I didn't get any though, I don't think I've the time to really take good care of them.

After an hour or two, I came back for lunch and a nap before starting on my work again. *sigh. The problem with group work is that you have to cover people's ass to cover your own. Bah.

.::. Learning .::.

Everyday is a learning experience.

When I first came, and knew nothing and no one. Everyday seemed like a challenge. There was the getting orientated around Lund and lossing my way all the time before I finally knew my way around well enough to go around without a map, then there was all the different things which I had to get done. It isn't extremely difficult, but it was somewhat stressful and I felt like I was trying hard everyday. Perhaps that was the very thing I wanted - to get out of my comfort zone and comfortable little corner in a tiny country.

But once school started, it opened a whole new world of learning. I'm not sure if it's the different learning style or if it's simply just a higher level of learning, but lecturers don't seem to teach that much. Lectures are about about 1.5hr minus the break, but lecturers talk rather slowly (abit to slow for my liking, and the lights are so dim that it makes me sleepy!) and don't teach that much really. Most of the stuff are in the readings which you have to self-study. Then there's practically a 5-page report due every week, with presentations. The reports are not that difficult, just that you need to do quite abit of research and really think through it. It's really different from my UOL course which lecturers seem to try to go through alot in lectures and give us lots of notes to digest, it was more theoretical and we didn't have to do much research.

As all the reports are group work and graded, it takes up alot of time. It's all good if you've good group mates who have the same understanding and we can discuss and grasp different concepts or point-of-view easily. But it's a disaster when you can't seem to make them understand no matter how hard you try and how much you help to guide them. It's so frustrating and wastes so much of precious time.

Perhaps it's another sort of learning process here, working with people with different backgrounds and education. I must learn how to handle it and get things done anyway.

I've 3 more reports due in 2 weeks time, exams are in 4 weeks and there's 2 textbooks and lots of journals to read.

The boyfriend is going to watch F1 cars and see them fix their tyres tomorrow! Some learning for his FSAE team I guess, so he's learning back home too. I wished I were home to see some action and I hope he sees Lewis Hamilton and get his autograph for me. Hahs!

.::. Finally! .::.

I finally have internet at home!!!!

I went to buy the wireless router today. But no matter how hard we try, we couldn't seem to surf the net despite being connected. *sigh. We ended up spending the WHOLE DAY trying and feeling desperate. We were even thick-skinned enough to approach one of our neighbour who graduated from Lund's IT faculty to help (but he was not at home).

So finally, my roommate managed to get it done while I was having dinner and feeling despondent. *yaaaayyyy! You've no idea how damn happy I am about this after being internet-less for almost a month.

It means alot to be able to talk to friends and family back home, and to feel connected. =)

I study in Lund, but stay in Malmo. It's just a 10 minute train ride away. Why is it that it's so much colder at night? Is that why I'm so cold when I come home? It's already 5 degrees at night...It's amazing that the humidity is actually higher here than in Singapore! And apparently, the wind here is twice as strong...

Cold...! *grrr..

.::. Boring Lifestyle .::.

We spend alot of time cooking everyday. But I really think it's worth it, and it's a huge part of my boring lifestyle now - a part which I love. We seem to be getting more and more creative each day but it's a hassel to think of what to cook everyday. I can't stand eating pizza or sandwiches everyday and I really enjoy these home-cooked meals.

Sunday evenings are always a big deal, because we seem to have lots of time and be in the mood too whip up a good meal to start the week with. Think - 'Monday Blues'. We seem to settle into a routine - going for walks along the beach in the evening before coming home to cook dinner.



We had ginseng chicken soup with mushrooms! Amazing shit. I don't even drink such stuff when I'm at home!

And this precious plate of stir-fried green vegetables. We only found this and those beans which we can stir-fried. I miss baby kailan!

Sunday's meal was a luxury. 'Expensive' vegetables and 'expensive' salmon. It was really great though.

My mum will be proud of my healthy diet.

There's something wrong with me, I'm always hungry. It's not a good thing that I always seem to be starving though I've eaten. *sigh. I wonder if it's the cold weather.

I finally GOT my internet! I called and complain last Thursday, and wrote an email to complain too. They finally got it sorted out and we got our modem today. *yay! But problem now is that that modem they gave only has on LAN output and we can't use internet at the same time. *sigghhh. Time to spend some money to get a router again. But well...at least we've got internet! *grins.

DEADlines are looming and we really need to get down to work.

.::. Cultural Day @ Lund .::.

Went to check out the Cultural events around Lund after dinner. It's the only night with so many people on the streets and there were many performances and events around. I liked the atmosphere.



With my roomate outside the Kulture Center.

The museum inside was free that night and we went in to take a look. It reminds me of Arts Festival in Singapore with free museums at night...

Maybe because it was held at Lund, this quaint little old town, the atmosphere really felt great. There's just this very european and somewhat arty feel to it.

There's all sort of werid things around too, like this bus for blood donation, and this very cool mobile library.

We didn't stay that long though, just walked around and went back around 11pm.

.::. Saturday .::.

Woke up slightly later and walked all the way to the Asian Market area for our weekly marketing. It took more than 30 minutes, but it's our morning exercise after breakfast. We bought green vegetable and stir-fried it at home. Such green vegetables are a luxury here and easily cost three times the price of normal lettuces, which is common here. It's hard to even find vegetables which we're used to stir-frying.

We headed over to Anny's to discuss about the Kiruna trip and to bake! Emma's really good at this, we had brownies and cookies.



Brownie in the making.

Emma, the great chef.

We were rather stuffed after brownies, cookies and tea. We had a simple dinner and I cooked a thai dish, Krapow with chilli padi but without basil leaves though. Henry cooked meatballs with vegetables too.

I miss Singapore food so much already. Give me my carrot cake, stingray and lala in chilli.

Food, glorious food. Food is our only indulgence here but it's still...not the same!

.::. Friday Night .::.

I don't have that many classes a week, probably only on Monday and Wednesdays. But the other days are filled with group meetins and some readings and research for those seemingly endless reports. Hahs.

We almost never have lessons on Friday and I always find my way to the library. Went with my roomate to her classmate's place near Folkets Park, it's the more 'happening' area in Malmo with lots of students and immigrants. The area we stay at is comparatively alot more quiet and filled with Swedish middle-class families.



This is one of the advertistments at the bus-stop, but I heard people would paste stuff on the ad to 'protest' against the ad or make their views known about them. I've no idea what the paper stucked there mean though it's practically on every of this ad at the bus-stops.

We had dinner at home, so we had to wait for her classmate to come pick us up from the bus stop.

They went to a club nearby, a very happening place at night, lined with many clubs and bars. But that area is somewhat edgy and had grafitti everywhere. Actually there's graffiti everywhere in Sweden, especially around the train stations.

And I've to admit that the grafftti was beautiful!

We didn't stay for the club in the end, we went home. Hahs. But I want to go back there someday in the day to take some pictures!

Her classmates seem alot more fun and closer as a class. Everyone knows each other and there's lots of activities lined up. This is in huge contrast to my classes, where nobody really knows each other. It's so different. Only those chinese students are really friendly and chat me up all the time.

We've bought tickets for Kiruna!!! *yayyy. Probably my first trip out of around here. I'm totally looking forward to the snow, ice-hotel and northern lights. But I've no idea how am I going to withstand weather below 0 degrees though. Tentatively, we'll be spending a few days in Stockholm after Kiruna before heading to London to spend Xmas and the countdown to the new year. =D

.::. Crayfish Party .::.

Went with Fai to a 'traditional' Swedish Crayfish Party last Saturday since it was crayfish season now.



The pizza-looking pie was REALLY saltish! The first mouthful, I thought that perhaps they didn't spread the salt evenly. But when I had a second mouthful, it was like eating a mouthful of salt - only worst! Obviously I couldn't make myself take another mouthful.

The crayfish looked like red prawns with very hard shells, bigger heads and less meat. It takes quite awhile to take out the very hard shells to access that little bit of meat. It isn't fantastic, prawns are probably better!

The people here can hold parties EVERYWHERE. This party was held in a library and really hard to find. They just put rows of tables and chairs in there and party. It's really squeezy.

In between eating, they will sing and bang on the tables. The songs are weird, one was about birth control.

People were supposed to bring their own drinks and many brought liquor and beers, except me who had hot green tea in my flask. Hahs. People must think I'm a freak. A Swedish girl even told me about the peer pressure when it comes to drinking here. Even if you don't like it, you have to drink, lest get ridiculed by your friends. I just don't get it.

By 10pm everyone was ready to head to a 'nation' for clubbing. And obviously, I went home instead.

.::. A Beautiful Day .::.

I try to go to the beach in the mornings whenever I do not have morning lessons and when the weather is good. It was a beautiful day on Monday and I went out for a walk before coming home to cook and going to school.



I love it when it's sunny. It's so cooling that you don't realize that you've turned darker by a few shades.

In my mind, there's a song that seem to creep into my mind..."it's a beautiful day"

I'm not sure if I'll get bored of the beach, but I love it so much! It makes me feel really relaxed walking along it.

I can forsee that this will be one great part which I'll miss dearly when it's time to leave.